


One Conclusion

by FeralPrince56



Series: P5R One-Shots [4]
Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Angst, Blood and Injury, Groundhog Day, Kinda?, M/M, Psychological Horror, Swearing, persona 5 royal spoilers, royal bad end
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-18
Updated: 2021-03-18
Packaged: 2021-03-27 08:54:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30120276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FeralPrince56/pseuds/FeralPrince56
Summary: Goro Akechi died.No matter what he did, something or someone in this universe would always bring him back.That wasn't going to stop him from trying to destroy this twisted reality and bring everything back to normal again. Even if he had no one to back him up. Even if he was completely alone.He will not be anyone's puppet.
Relationships: Akechi Goro/Amamiya Ren, Akechi Goro/Kurusu Akira, Akechi Goro/Persona 5 Protagonist
Series: P5R One-Shots [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1552291
Comments: 5
Kudos: 40





	One Conclusion

Ren betrayed him.

It wasn’t like Goro didn’t see this coming from a mile away. It’s why he made sure to stand outside LeBlanc that evening and make sure Ren went forward with their plan- give Maruki the calling card no matter what. Make certain that treasure appeared in his palace regardless of any prize Maruki might dangle in front of him.

It wasn’t entirely uncalled for either. A betrayal for a betrayal? It only seems fair in this bullshit, unjust game they were thrown into.

At least Goro’s betrayal didn’t doom all of reality.

Not intentionally.

(How could he know he was just another pawn in a game between gods?)

He had hoped, somewhat, that his being alive was just a bonus. Something to keep the thieves entertained, or perhaps distracted. Maybe Maruki knew of his crimes and brought him back to life so they’d waste a month trying to figure out how to get rid of him rather than infiltrate his palace.

Maybe, just maybe, Ren was less selfish.

That maybe, Maruki would see Ren’s wish as being humanity’s saviour, end wars, stop global warming, something, anything that would feed into that massive saviour complex.

And not dangling the life of his would-be murderer. An unwanted orphan turned assassin. The detective prince that everyone forgot about as quickly as they had loved him when he first appeared on screen.

It was nauseating.

With his help or without, Goro would put a stop to it.

He had to. He was the only one left.

The next day, Ren would just convince everyone that it was all sorted out, or maybe that living in this reality was for the best. He had that kind of sway and charm that Goro worked for so damn hard but could never achieve, not really.

Fine then. He’d do it himself. He’d tear apart Maruki’s palace and face off against the wannabe god by himself. He’d been a persona user for so long, he once fought the entire group of Phantom Thieves nearly to a stalemate. He destroyed palaces once before, all on his own, only with the power of Loki at his fingertips. What’s another one?

Not like the Thieves could take it out on him once he was gone anyway. He’d be a bitter memory, the man who stopped their wishes from coming true but... that was hardly anything new. He’d just be another disappoint in someone’s lives.

He could live with that. For what little time remained of his life anyway.

It leads him to stand right in front of the former therapist, dressed in his white suit and seemingly awaiting the others.

No one comes after Goro.

“Akechi-kun...” Maruki trails off, “I didn’t think you’d give up. I can’t say I’m surprised I’m seeing you here, at the very least. I suppose the others won't be coming, then?”

“Hmph,” Goro leaves him only with a huff.

Maruki still waits around, either for someone else to come up from behind him or for Goro to make any kind of movement. He doesn’t seem too sure, but when it’s clear that nothing would be changing, he continues, “I never thought I’d be able to convince you, no matter what I gave you in return. It seems the others were a little more understanding and realised this really is for everyone’s benefit.”

“Are you quite done jerking yourself off?” Goro deadpans, tone completely devoid of any emotion beyond general fatigue, “If you’re only going to stand around and congratulate yourself on how good of a manipulator you’ve been, I’d rather just take the treasure or have you shoot me here on sight and end it all. I’m not interested in this meaningless conversation.”

“You’re right,” Maruki agrees and places a hand over his face, “You’re alone, but I know better than to underestimate you. Still, don’t think I’ll go easy on you either. I have no intention of losing here today. Persona.”

His clothes change in a flash of light while a golden, cross-like figure appears behind and tentacles come out from the ground under Maruki's feet.

Lavenza had warned them he was a persona user after all.

“Loki!” Goro shouts as he rips off his mask and summmons his persona, knowing he doesn’t have any room for hesitation and immediately tries to go in for the kill.

He’s alone.

There’s no one here to bring him back should he fail.

He needs to rely on his own strength.

Loki’s sword swings at Maruki, only to be blocked off by one of the tentacles. The other tentacle swipes at Goro but only manages to make a small tear on his costume, barely out of reach of his skin to do any actual damage.

Maruki on the other hand, looked completely unfazed, weirding some kind of sceptre, standing calmly as if they weren’t engaged in a heated battle over the fate of reality.

Goro throws himself fully into the battle, Loki trying to swing his sword at Maruki and failing each time while Goro tries to shoot Maruki’s persona and fails as well.

None of his attacks do anything against him. Maruki doesn't flinch once at his onslaught.

“With the Phantom Thieves, maybe you stood a chance against me,” Maruki says in his all too calm voice. The bastard was mocking him, wasn’t he? He knew the outcome of this battle before it had even begun, “But on your own... Akechi-kun, I had hoped we’d see eye to eye one day, but maybe my methods aren’t quite effective enough for someone with your willpower and tenacity.”

Maruki’s demeanour and speech infuriate him. Enough that he’s distracted and doesn’t realise that the tentacles have retracted from Maruki and appeared underfoot.

“I truly am sorry, Akechi-kun.”

The last thing Goro hears is the snap of fingers, right before the tentacles rise from the ground and tear him apart in an instant, limb from limb.

* * *

A scream?

Someone’s scream.

His scream.

It must’ve been his scream that woke him up from whatever nightmare he was having.

Nightmare?

No that felt too real to be a nightmare.

He felt his body being destroyed, his limbs and skin torn off until he was nothing but a bloody mess in Maruki’s palace, no healing item powerful enough to bring him back.

He died?

He died.

He must have, right?

He didn’t know.

It would be the second time that it’s happened and yet here he still couldn’t tell what death was. The first time he could never recall. He suspected he’d never know thanks to the amnesia side-effect of psychotic breakdowns. It was all a haze, him asking Ren to fulfil their promise, end Shido’s crimes and then... there was nothing.

This time it was far more vivid, but it still didn’t feel real, just an extremely lucid nightmare.

Maybe it was just that.

He grabs at his torso, legs, anything, it’s all still there. Unharmed. Mostly unharmed. Some scars from previous reckless trips to the metaverse were still there but he didn’t think they would go away any time soon.

No actual sign or proof he had gone to Maruki’s palace all on his own the night before.

Good.

Maybe good?

Goro reaches for his phone on the bedside table to check for the date. February 4th. The day after Maruki’s actualisation was meant to take place.

Did it take place?

Goro certainly didn’t feel any different. He was alive and that was somewhat surprising but there was still some chance he’d be alive in the real world.

But would he have been in his bed, in his apartment, if that were truly the case?

He really couldn’t tell.

He couldn’t even remember if they did fight Maruki. Maybe that was another side effect? He sure hoped so.

Otherwise....

Hm.

It’s a school day and he considers calling in sick. If this was Maruki’s ideal reality it didn’t matter, he’d end up getting exactly what he wanted without putting in any effort any longer. If this was the real world, then it was only a matter of days before the police would come knocking at his door.

Goro goes to school anyway.

He doesn’t quite know why.

* * *

“You haven’t touched your coffee,” Ren points out when Goro’s taking far too long to make his next move. Not that it seemed to bother him whatsoever. They had all the time in the world, here, up in Ren’s attic. No one would bother them.

Not if they didn’t want to be bothered.

“I haven’t, no,” Goro replies in a simple tone and looks to Ren, “You weren’t surprised that I came to see you this morning. Did you not think me dead just yesterday?”

“I believed in you,” Ren tries to reassure him, but it does the opposite.

He still doesn’t know what reality this is.

“With no escape routes, surrounded by an endless wave of shadows after a battle with you all in which I used up all the power I had within me, you _believed_ I could make my escape?” Goro asks genuinely because he liked to think he was just that good and tactical enough to make some kind of cunning escape.

But that was just wishful thinking.

Ren nods back without looking up, “I have endless faith in you coming back. You wouldn’t break our promise, would you?”

“You think me some miracle worker because I refuse to break my promises?” Even Goro knew better than to start believing that some god out there had enough faith in him to give him yet another chance at life. Not without any strings attached.

“I had to believe. You are important to me, so I had to.”

“So it’s just some bullshit sentimentality,” Goro replies with no anger in his voice at all. In fact if it weren’t for the swearing or implications, anyone would think he was actually being polite, “Did we fight Maruki, in the end?”

“You don’t remember?” Ren asks him, concerned tone finally putting some kind of emotion behind his words.

“No,” Goro rubs at his forehead, feeling the leather of his gloves drag against his skin as it tries to soothe away his growing headache, “I don’t know if it’s thanks to some kind of amnesia episode or whether it’s Maruki intentionally changing my cognition. The last thing that comes to mind is you telling me my life isn’t trivial and we should accept his deal. So then… did you?”

There’s no response from Ren but it’s enough to tip Goro off about his dream maybe having more truth to it than he had hoped.

Did he really die?

He stands up, leaving his full cup of coffee behind and goes to the stairs, dust particles flying around in the light behind him, “Then we have nothing further to discuss. Tell boss I wasn’t in the mood for coffee.”

Ren says something behind him that Goro wilfully tunes out and ignores.

He didn’t need more pity from him.

He needed to take action into his own hands again.

Maybe it wasn’t too late.

The cognitive world and reality had already fused.

Maybe he could storm the palace on his own once more and reach the treasure.

The shadows there were pretty tough.

He could do it. He has to do it.

He immediately sets off to Odaiba right after the bells of LeBlanc chime at his departure.

The research lab is still there, now more prominent than it had ever been before in reality, but it was there. That had to be a good sign, right?

Maybe it’s too late.

Goro had to check to be sure. No one else around seemed to see it at all. A towering building reaching into the clouds, but no one saw it. A building in place of an abandoned construction site and yet people acted like it was an empty space, access restricted to all.

Not to him.

The metaverse navigator was gone, but if the Palace was here, in reality, then he didn’t need it. He walks through the gates, they're still open to his surprise, and no one sees him. No one sees his clothes burn in a blue flame until they transformed to show his soul to all.

The cognitive world and reality had fused.

That wasn’t going to stop him from trying to destroy Maruki.

His friends-

His friends?

No, not his friends. The Phantom Thieves, his enemies, he couldn’t rely on them here anymore, but that was fine. He didn’t rely on them before, he could do it again.

Could he?

He could.

He had to.

He _would_.

The corridors where the doctors would roam to lead cognitions further into the palace for ‘reassessment’ and whatever other torture devices Maruki had in here were completely empty. No cognition in sight, not even a shadow.

Maruki didn’t need any guards at the front door.

No one could oppose him anymore.

Goro would still try.

He runs through it, senses heightened to hear or see any shadow that would jump out at him, but none appear. At least not until he’s at the doors leading up to Maruki's precious garden.

The entire floor is filled with shadows, _security_ _guards_ , shadows that wouldn’t let anyone into his paradise.

No.

They were wardens. They wouldn’t let anyone leave it. Though they certainly weren’t about to let Goro in either.

He prepares himself, makes sure that Loki was ready to destroy them all in an instant. There were far too many for him to slip past or fight directly without a plan. He would destroy as many as he could and make the fight a little fairer.

Which is what he does. He shoots continuously at them until at least 5 are downed and the rest are either weakened or coming at him. He jumps out of the way of their attacks, keeps shooting until his clip is empty and summons Loki to perform an almighty attack to all of them.

It’s effective enough and kills all of the downed shadows while weakening the remaining that were pursuing him. He had a chance, just as long as there weren’t too many shadows awaiting him in Maruki’s garden.

He swings his sabre and drives it through the other shadows with enough force to kill them in one swing. It’s effective and gets rid of the rest of the shadows blocking his path, showing him a clear path to the lift that would take him to the garden.

Nothing stops him anymore, and when he’s in the garden, all of the cognitions he was expecting to see are there, everyone who’s cognitions Maruki had altered for his twisted version of an ideal reality was here, rather than down in the lab to be dissected and tested.

No, they were all happy now.

Forcibly happy.

It made Goro sick.

He presses on, moving through the happy crowds with their wide and creepy smiles, walking through the bridges that led him higher and higher, with no shadows in sight.

Maruki barely saw anyone as a threat now, didn’t he?

“Akechi!”

Hearing his name causes him to snap his attention behind him, where Takamaki was calling out to him.

Takamaki?

Had she lost her persona abilities?

This must have been her own cognition in this prison.

“Come on, come join the fun!” She tries to call out to him, convincing him to join them.

_Them._

The rest of the Phantom Thieves were here too.

Ren wasn’t here.

He probably would be here sooner or later.

Everyone else seemed happy to dance around and act like nothing was wrong, like they were being mind controlled into believing that their problems could disappear with the snap of their fingers. Like they weren’t determined to change Maruki’s heart just last week and agreed with him about how nauseating this reality truly was.

“I can’t,” He answers, not wishing to raise any suspicions, “I need to do something else first. I’ll… come back,” he didn’t mean it, he had no such plans, but the cognitions didn’t need to know that. They’d be gone by the time Goro was done anyway.

He keeps going, walking past all of the cognitions once more and getting to the top of the bridge, the one leading him up to Maruki’s office, the final research lab. He wouldn’t get distracted this time.

A shadow stands between him and the lift, but he could deal with it swiftly. He just needed to use his persona, land a curse attack and-

It doesn’t do anything.

The demon in front of him blocking his path merely laughs and tries to cut him down with his trident.

He misses, but it doesn’t bring him much hope when Loki’s physical attacks don’t do a thing against it.

He could still use his almighty skills; nothing could block those.

The demon dodges them easily as if sensing Goro’s next move.

Did it know? Was it able to read his cognition too?

No, Loki was in front of him, he still had control of himself.

He still

Something sharp pierces his body and he looks down at the sword that had gone through his back and poked out through his chest, covered in blood.

His blood.

The sword pulls out and Goro collapses, Loki disappearing instantly, but he doesn’t return to him, leaving him maskless. He looks up to try and see who his attacker was.

Maruki?

No, it was just some damned shadow he couldn’t sense coming up behind him. The one ahead was merely a distraction.

He reaches down to his pocket, or tries to with his shaking hand, heaving heavily through the pain.

Air.

He needs air.

_He can’t get air._

He’s quickly stopped when the demon impales his hand with it’s trident. He tries to shout out in pain but only a wimpering cry comes out, trying to grit his teeth but drawing blood from his lip instead.

He looks up, reaches out to the trident with his other hand, only to see the blade of the other shadow being brought down on him.

* * *

Goro Akechi died.

He felt like he died when he was a child.

His mother died, he had no where left to turn, his life was over as he knew it. But he overcame that. He picked up what pieces remained of him, crudely glued them back together and decided to make a path of his own.

The next time he died, he didn’t feel a thing. Or at least, he couldn’t be certain. It was ideal, really. The amnesia onset by his psychotic breakdown meant he could never remember the pain of dying if that was something he should be remembering in his next life. It was painless, as painless as forgetting could be. It was noble. I wasn’t satisfying, but he could count on the thieves to do what he needed them to do. It was… almost peaceful.

Almost.

Since then death no longer seemed permanent. He would feel immense pain in his nightmares, wake up, only to be confused and uncertain whether the events of the previous day actually happened.

A living nightmare.

No one would confirm it either.

They couldn’t, no one was there to witness it.

Maruki could.

Maruki might tell him what’s going on.

Maybe he should ask him what’s going on?

There was no point. Not only did he not know how to contact Maruki at all, but there was also no way he’d believe a word he said.

Would there be any reason for Maruki to lie to him?

It couldn’t hurt to ask.

Now that he knew what to expect from the palace as it was in this reality, maybe he could figure out how exactly to go about it.

February 7th.

Time had been moving forward but every day it still felt like waking up to the same thing. He’d wake up after a nightmare, question whether it truly had been a nightmare, argue with Ren and go back Maruki’s palace and fail.

He would fail every time.

No he had to keep going.

And had to keep dying.

This was the only way to break out of this reality, and he couldn’t trust the Phantom Thieves to helped him anymore.

He deserved that betrayal.

He deserved that betrayal.

He doesn’t bother with LeBlanc anymore. It was always the same game of chess, the same cup of coffee, the same argument in the same dusty attic. It was a waste of time. If he had to die each time until he found the correct way to go through the palace, he might as well get it over and done with quickly.

There was no correct way.

He should probably just stay behind and not go through that pain again.

Just one day without pain couldn’t hurt anyone.

He leaves his bed, grabs whatever clothes he could find (didn’t he wear this yesterday?), doesn’t even bother going through with his morning routine. He’d either destroy reality and would no longer exist or come back as his pristine unharmed self. Grooming himself was pointless.

Who would he be getting dressed up for anyway?

He pulls up his hoodie to avoid anyone’s gaze while he traveled through the subway, getting off at Odaiba again and climbing over the gate that led to Maruki’s lab, ignoring the ‘ACCESS RESTRICTED’ sign that had popped up on the gate. His outfit once again burns up in that bright blue and he takes the lift up, strides through the palace and shooting his way past the shadow waiting for him in the hallway.

They were waiting for him.

They knew he’d be coming.

He had no chance.

He had to keep going.

He blasts through them all and pulls out his sabre as he continues through the garden, ignoring Takamakai and Sakamoto shouting after him, ignoring all of the questioning looks the cognitions would give him. They could sense his anger.

Maruki could sense him.

Maruki could sense him.

He could beat him this time.

He couldn’t beat him at all.

Goro hides behind the wall, observing the two shadows waiting for him at the lift. They knew that they couldn’t both ambush him this time, their plan wouldn’t work twice. So what was their plan this time? He knew he couldn’t brute force this. He brought what remaining healing items he had with him and ran here.

Maybe he could avoid seeing his insides spill onto the sterile white floors this time.

Maybe this time they’d be merciful and put a quick bullet in his head instead.

There were two shots left in his gun from his earlier assault, he made sure of it. The shadows weren’t looking in his direction, he could startle them, gain the advantage and make it past them. What came after that… he would deal with it later.

He aims his gun at the mask of the first security guard, steadies his hand, pulls the trigger and

“Akechi?”

He missed.

He hit the glass lift, shattered it, and made the shadows fully aware of his presence without having done any kind of damage to them. They melt away while the man behind him tries to put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

It was about time Ren made his presence here known.

“Come back with us. Come, have fun,” he says as if the shadows in front of them didn’t have a murderous gaze and intended to end his life here and now.

“Fuck off!” Goro shrugs him off and pulls out his sabre. Brute force it was.

“Do you really want to keep dying? Keep going through all of this pain. Come back to us. You won’t feel anything bad ever again, I promise.”

“Leave!” Goro swings his sabre at the blond shadow but doesn’t hit his mark. Luckily for him, the other two shadows seem off their game as well and don’t reach him either.

“You won’t die.”

“Shut up!”

“I won’t let you die.”

“I…!”

Loki doesn’t appear when Goro tears off his mask in his attempt to blast the shadows away with an almighty attack. The mask reappears, so he tries again. Tries a third, fourth, fifth time but it does nothing.

“I’ll settle this **_myself!_** ”

He runs at the shadows, desperately trying to tear through them with his sabre but it does nothing against them. The blond shadow backhands him in the face, the charged power sending him flying into the wall where he hears a painful crack.

“Won’t you join us? You won’t suffer any longer.”

“I… can’t…”

Goro tries to lift himself up, slowly, only for the shadow to punch him back down, smashing his head against the ground. He hears his helmet crack, feels some of it scrape and draw blood on his cheek.

Then…

He feels nothing.

* * *

Goro Akechi died.

And he would keep on dying.

Loki pitied him and would never show his face again after that terrible display. Robin Hood disagreed with his premise altogether and wouldn’t show up so long as Goro was torturing himself like this.

So he truly was alone now. Not even his masks, his personas, were here to save him. One blow from a shadow would be all that it takes. Each time he grew weaker, couldn’t even reach Maruki, couldn’t even reach that damned garden.

Maybe he could just sleep in this one time.

He could do without the torture 

One night without nightmares.

He could sleep forever like this.

* * *

“Akechi?”

“Hmm?”

“I’m happy to have you here. I really did miss our games. You won’t stop coming here, right?”

“Of course not, Ren. I’m happy to oblige in our games. I'll be here.”

Forever.

**Author's Note:**

> I gotta thank the shuakehell discord server for helping me realise through our conversations that if Ren's dream was to have Akechi by his side, then, Maruki, with the power to bring people back to life, would make it so Goro could never actually stay dead. And as a result this ended up happening. 
> 
> Anyway, follow me on twitter @FeralPrince56 or on tumblr @Patchesthegothictramp if you want to discuss Royal/persona things, I'm always happy to chat!


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